From Hiding to Torture
A year ago, in history, we were each assigned to write an essay about the holocaust. We had a choice to either go into hiding or surrender to the Germans, I chose to go into hiding. So, here is my story.
The path I chose was to go into hiding. I chose this path because concentration camps are just too cruel and dangerous for a young child like me. Five years old and I am being forced into hiding with ten other Jews, including my family. I believe that taking a risk and hiding is showing bravery and courage. Of course, the feeling of being caught any second is a frightening thought, but the feeling of having a place to hide is a much better, happier thought. The annex, located above a local bank, is where we are staying. It’s small and blank, but it’s better than nothing.
We have to be quiet for all business hours, except on weekends. Eight hours of silence a day, Five days a week. Food is limited, so are drinks and bathroom breaks. The smell was horrible, hard to bare at times. There was no school, no running in the sun, no playing outside and no riding bikes. The annex is our only home, our old ones where abandoned. My friends will worry about me, vanishing like that without warning. I hope they won’t miss me too bad.
Everyday I wake up to alarms followed by screaming, a sign of another innocent life being taken away. 6:00 A.M. banging on the basement door fills the cold, boxed in room. All that can be heard is German Nazis running towards our hidden annex, not so hidden anymore. They take us away to Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest death camp in Europe. We’re divided into groups of males and females. My Pa and brother where taken away from me. My Ma, weak and sick as she was, was set to work out in the fields. I was teased and mocked, I don’t understand why. My hair has been shaved off completely, my body badly beaten. I lay there screaming, begging for help as the nettles pierced my body with a sharp pain, pain of defeat. After they finish I take a look at my now tattooed arm. In the center was a number, something they call a ‘bar code’. Half covered in my own blood, in permanent ink, engraved the numbers 12456.
Something strange I noticed was that outside this death camp I saw kids, kids living my life. Skipping, running and laughing. I may never laugh or skip again. Oh, how badly I want to run around in the sun and jump up and down. My life has been destroyed bits by bits, pieces by pieces. Day by day, hour-by-hour, I keep on wondering when I’ll be set free.
I witnessed the death of my brother, Ma and Pa. Shot by the German Nazis in front of my very eyes. One of the Nazis called me towards them. With aching legs, I obeyed. Frightened by what may happen next, I couldn’t help but stumble. There next to me lay my family’s dead bodies, blood coming from every corner. At that point I knew I was right, I was next to die.
We have to be quiet for all business hours, except on weekends. Eight hours of silence a day, Five days a week. Food is limited, so are drinks and bathroom breaks. The smell was horrible, hard to bare at times. There was no school, no running in the sun, no playing outside and no riding bikes. The annex is our only home, our old ones where abandoned. My friends will worry about me, vanishing like that without warning. I hope they won’t miss me too bad.
Everyday I wake up to alarms followed by screaming, a sign of another innocent life being taken away. 6:00 A.M. banging on the basement door fills the cold, boxed in room. All that can be heard is German Nazis running towards our hidden annex, not so hidden anymore. They take us away to Auschwitz concentration camp, the largest death camp in Europe. We’re divided into groups of males and females. My Pa and brother where taken away from me. My Ma, weak and sick as she was, was set to work out in the fields. I was teased and mocked, I don’t understand why. My hair has been shaved off completely, my body badly beaten. I lay there screaming, begging for help as the nettles pierced my body with a sharp pain, pain of defeat. After they finish I take a look at my now tattooed arm. In the center was a number, something they call a ‘bar code’. Half covered in my own blood, in permanent ink, engraved the numbers 12456.
Something strange I noticed was that outside this death camp I saw kids, kids living my life. Skipping, running and laughing. I may never laugh or skip again. Oh, how badly I want to run around in the sun and jump up and down. My life has been destroyed bits by bits, pieces by pieces. Day by day, hour-by-hour, I keep on wondering when I’ll be set free.
I witnessed the death of my brother, Ma and Pa. Shot by the German Nazis in front of my very eyes. One of the Nazis called me towards them. With aching legs, I obeyed. Frightened by what may happen next, I couldn’t help but stumble. There next to me lay my family’s dead bodies, blood coming from every corner. At that point I knew I was right, I was next to die.
6 Comments
haha ok do you want my honest opinion on this one too??
Go ahead, be honest, but this was a class assignment :p
ok what's the take on it
are you reminicing from before
are you sopposed to be anne frank?
i love the ending from day by day to i was the next to die it sounds very honest as if someone who went through that accually said it themselves
saying(at the begining) that concentration camps were just to cruel and dangerous just ddnt sound quite rite to me. of course they are, if any jew had the choice im pretty sure they would choose to go into hiding
and then the showing bravery and courage thing..
...seemde kind of random to me. (the honesty thing!)
this is extremely good for a school assignment what did you get on it??
105, and the assignment was to basically to put yourself in the shoes of a jew...we had to give out alot of info in order to gain extra points..which is why I included extra un-needed info(for ex. the stuff that you didnt think sounded quite right), like you said
good. itz good. the ending is so shocking.